Netflix recently added Beyond the Lights to its amazing catalog of movies. Now I’ve been doing looottss of Netflixing lately and could not wait to watch this movie. When the promo tour for Beyond the Lights began last fall I was super excited. See, I am a sucker for love so I love romantic movies. My heart beats super hard when the two characters give up their pride and admit they are in love! I just love watching people in love (yes, I know these movies are fictional stop trying to kill my vibe!). But when this movie released in theaters I was in the middle of my final semester of college (talk about busy!) between assignments, football games, and being a broke college kid (it literally takes a small fortune to go see a movie) I did not get to see it. So thank you Netflix for allowing me this opportunity on today!
In the movie Noni is an up and coming biracial popstar. Kaz, a police officer, saves her from an attempted suicide. You know the drill they fall in love, their parents tyr to tear them apart and a big fight breaks out. Well the two of them runaway to Mexico to hide out for a few days. One morning Noni wakes up first and picks up a knife. I honestly was afraid she was going to attempt suicide again but she started to cut out her weave. You see tracks starting to fall and then the camera cuts to Kaz who is waking up. Noni nervously comes out of the bathroom with a head full of beautiful curls. Kaz smiles and gives her a chillingly beautiful look. He then plays in her hair and she smiles. He loved her hair.
HE LOVED HER HAIR!
I thought this scene was beautiful. Hair in a black or half black woman’s world is such a touchy subject. Society will tell us our hair is nappy, kinky, and unprofessional. Black men will praise women with “good hair” (waves) and bash those with a tighter curl pattern(or frizz like me). Majority of black woman relax, straighten, and weave their hair to please others ( I said MAJORITY and not all ).
I once dated someone who would ask me “are you going to do your hair?” if I wore it curly. That bad influence made me feel like my curls were ugly. Well I promised myself that I would never date someone who considered my curls (which take forever to tame and untangle so the answer to his question is MY HAIR IS ALREADY DONE) ugly. That scene reminded me of this promise I made to myself.
Regardless if you’re relaxed, naturally wavy, naturally straight, naturally curly, naturally kinky, or naturally frizzy (ME) hair is important to woman. Long hair is sexy, beautiful, and feminine. Well Samantha cut all of her hair off. I have been rocking an asymmetrical curly cut (I still had a little bit of hair to hide behind) for a few months but two days ago I stepped into a Great Clips and had them chop it all off. Cutting all of your hair off is such a liberating experience (this is my third time rocking a short do so I would know). I can always feel baggage floating away after a big chop. It’s such a great feminist experience to think “I do not need this hair!” “I do not need society’s standards of beauty!” “I do not need to hide my face with this hair, SHOW IT OFF”. Well this last for about a hour until those “WHAT DID I DOOOOO, I LOOK LIKE A BOY” regret thoughts kick in. The only thing I could think about this morning was “I need a weave”. Although I might need this weave for other reasons, fitting in is not one. I’ve learned to accept these curls and refuse to let anyone diminish them so why can’t I do this with my short do? Well I’m going to try. Confidence looks better than anything else.
Samantha’s short curly hair guide Mixed Chicks leave in conditioner Eco styler gel Brush Colorful bandannas
p.s. I will probably still get that weave only to give my hair a rest from wetting it so much.
xo ♥ S
slightlycurly 